imagine

Imagine living in a desert for forty years.

Imagine waiting for decades for a promised child.

Imagine sitting in the lions' den.

Imagine walking into a king's presence.

 
 

Imagine.

 
 

To imagine is to bring something to life in your head as if it was really happening. It's to envision events. To imagine is to live life a little outside of where you are currently sitting.

 
 

I look outside my window at the moment, and it's all gray. Gray sky, gray trees, gray woods, gray clouds, gray streets. Once in a while, there are a few green leaves left poking through the "gray-ness," but it all reality, it's simply gray. I mean, even the falling rain looks gray as it seems to be floating down in the smallest droplets possible.

 
 

But, I'm trying to imagine it in a different way. I'm trying to imagine this world in all it's perfect glory in the first few weeks of it being created. Green seems to be one of my favorite colors now-a-days. Green trees, green grass, green plants. It's ALIVE. That's one of the reasons that the Dominican Republic still remains so vivid in my mind. In the midst of the hurt and squalor and pain and sinfulness and poverty (you know, the gray/yucky stuff of life), there is a beautiful sense of life around every corner. Lush forests, dark green plants, and much, much more that resembles life.

 
 

Back to my imagination: So, the trees out my window, in my imagination, are the fullest trees I've ever seen. They are green, lush, living. They are healthy and produce much fruit. The field is not cut and brown and fading into fall. It is full of tall, lush grass. It is full of wildflowers in colors so bright that I am shocked at how bright they are. The hills are not dying. They are like new. The sky is bright and blue and almost clear as the sun shines down to touch this life all around.

 
 

Imaginations are wonderful things.

 
 

I think of those Israelites on their forty years of wandering. I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting for their beloved child. I think of Daniel, waiting for his way out of the lions' grasps. And, I think of Esther, standing before the king (her new husband) wondering what was about to happen. They all had hopes. They had dreams. I bet they all day dreamed of the day when they'd reach the Promised Land or have that promised child. I bet Daniel's mind was imagining meeting God or maybe it was imagining what God's mighty hand would do next. And, Esther was probably imagining a changed kingdom. So, it's good to imagine. I mean, the Bible doesn't say they all imagined those things, but they were human. They longed for newness of life and good things. They imagined things.

 
 

I heard a description of heaven this past week that made me start imagining. All the description was about was the golden streets and the River of Life flowing right down the middle! And the Tree of Life… FULL of food with leaves to heal the nations. That green tree, that lush and lively tree is going to heal the nations and bring life and FULLNESS to us in ways that we will NEVER be able to imagine on this gray earth. I can just see the streets. The sheer brilliance of golden streets strikes my thoughts. I mean, our little golden rings or necklaces are shiny in their small amount. Imagine the roads!! And that river, flowing from the throne of God, is going to be the clearest, purest river we will ever encounter. I think it will be like crystal with a hint of blue.

 
 

Those few things were the only things described in the message I heard. It was from the Word of God. It was true. But, heaven is going to be so much BIGGER than 2 roads, 1 river, and the Tree of Life. Can you imagine it?

 
 

I try and I know I come REALLY REALLY REALLY short. It take me back to the Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis' final book in the series defines heaven from the characters' point of view. And, even though his explanation is beautiful and alive, I know the beautiful words C.S. Lewis wrote STILL fall short. If we can imagine heaven and read other people's words about heaven that leave us still and at peace, I think it's going to be ten million times better than those fallible, human thoughts.

 
 

Are you ready for that place? Are you ready for Jesus?

 
 

I am.